Tuesday, May 21, 2013

(This is my six minute lecture I gave at SNAG this year. Hence the short and sweet of it all.)

My name is Arthur Hash. I am currently an Instructional SupportTechnician for the Metal Program and the Digital Fabrication Lab in FineArts at the State University of New York at New Paltz. I have anundergraduate degree in Craft/Material Studies from VirginiaCommonwealth University and Masters degree in metalsmithing andjewelry design from Indiana University at Bloomington. I am honoredto be invited to lecture at this years conference. This will be myninth conference. Thank you so much. As a maker, designer and metalsmith it is my desire, like many, tocreate an object that lures in an unsuspecting audience. For me, thelink between the audience and the piece has always been the maker. Anobject, made real through the skilled manipulation of carefullyselected materials, is heavy with history, tradition and purpose. Inthe world of metals, tools, and how they are used can sometimes definea piece. My tools allow me to create a body of work that reveals ahistory, my love of material and thoughtful experimentation. Theseobjects form a procession of sorts. One after another they march intoexistence, ever evolving, increasing in number and building upon thelast, creating new trajectories for exploration. My approach ispre-meditative, sometimes spontaneous but always compulsive.Making to me, has become instinctual, in many ways it is likeparallel parking a car.

As you are pulling into a parking space, cutting the wheel, pausing, looking back, checkingyour mirrors, you develop a spatial awareness that extends just pastthe end of the hood. When you the swing the wheel and the car fitsneatly into a space you exhale and pat yourself on the backOften you come in at an awkward angle, or maybe you underestimatethe size of the space, in either case you back up an start again. Knowing the weight of a brooch, the size of a bracelet, the amount ofmaterial needed to make that perfect piece becomes this instinctualfeeling, freeing you to think about other aspects of the work. Sometimes you have tostart over, sometimes you melt the piece, sometimes it just doesn’twork out, but the more you go back to the beginning, the more you canexecute that perfect parking job.Out there just beyond the hood, just beyond the end of the hammer,just beyond the norm is where I like to work. Stretching mycomfort zone allows me to extend my spatial awareness and ultimatelyinforms the next piece.By linking both old and new I consider myself a hybrid-craftsmen. Ido not consider myself bound by a traditional adherence to techniqueand material. By having this freedom I believe that I have theability to move between the lines, blurring the boundaries of whatfalls under the umbrella of crafts. It allows me to take on projectsthat challenge my skill set and combine my traditional metals handskills with new methods of making. It is my dedication, to improveupon what I know, my love of the material and my physical need to MAKEthat keeps me firmly planted within the wide world of metals. For the most part I believe that craftsmen understand thatmastering a skill requires years of dedication. For us, reputation,quality and credibility are built not in days but years. The path tosuccess is lined with hard work and sleepless nights.The truth is, now, right now, the gap between the drawing board andthe bench is getting smaller and smaller. With the aid of rapidprototyping, we now have the ability to design and manufacture anobject in hours not days. But like all tools, these machines need atrained operator. Just as the skilled hand of the master silversmithreaches for the proper hammer or graver so too shall the hybridcraftsmen reach for a laser engraver or 3D printer. As time passesthe use of this technology will be a mainstay and the successful willmaster its purpose.This technology is changing our studios. It is changing how wecommunicate, how we interact, and most importantly HOW we make. It isnot the magic fix-all, it is not an eraser and it certainly does notmake you a master. It is however closing the gap. If HOW we wield ahammer defines us, what happens when the hammer disappears? Can justthe object be enough? Can just the IDEA of an object be enough?This is probably one of the most important questions to the ask thoseparticipating in our field. Does adding technology to a crafteducation mean loosing craft? I certainly think that this is not thecase but I do believe that we all need be open to the possibility ofchange. As email and social media have revolutionized communication the3D printer and other digital fabrication techniques will revolutionizethe artisan craftsman.As new makers enter the field, they come with a certain skill set thatis different than that of their predecessors. As we adapt to educatethis new breed of makers, we need to continue to emphasize theimportance of making objects by hand. Both traditional andnon-traditional approaches need to co-exist in the metals studio. Astrong connection between the brain and hand exists with the swing ofa hammer, click of a mouse or the click of a pen. Only throughexperience can one gain the skills to improve…The longer I participate in the field, the more artists I meet, thelarger the field seems. I have come to realize that there is a space for allmakers within metals and that nothing should be left out. The hybridcraftsmen will be a new face in our field, using new technology tounderstand and master traditional techniques, ultimately creating newexciting objects that will push the boundaries of metals.